WEBVTT rt DAN BILLOW EXPLAINS ANDHOW IT COULD LEAD TO MOREBUSINESS IN THE FUTURE.>>rt ZERO, ADMISSION -->> IT IS A BIT OF A DIFFERENTSHOW EXPECTED TONIGHT.rtWHACK'S IT IS GOING TO BE FASTAND NE SEE, -- AND NOISY.OUR JOB IS TO BRING NOIrtSE ANDBOOMS HERE TO THE CAPE.>> METATARSAL ARE CONVERTED HE'SKEEPER MISSILES.rtMINUTE TARS ARE ALSO SMALLERTHAN MOST ROCKETS LAUNCHED FROMTHE CAPE, ONLY ABOUT 76 FEETTALL, IT WILL ALSO CArtRRY A SMALLSATELLITE WEIGHING ONLY ABOUT250 POUNDS.A MILITARY WILL USE THEM TOTRACK SPACErt JUNK AND OTHERSATELLITES AND IS ABLE TO DO SOVERY CHEAPLY ON THIS MISSION.>> I THINK THAT'S WHY THEY CHOSETO COME HERE.rt>> IT WAS ALL MADE POSSIBLE BYFLORIDA WHICH HAS REFURBISHEDTHE LAUNCHrt PAD USEDTONIGHT, HOPING OTHERS WILLFOLLOW.THEY WOULD LIKE TO FIND MORECUSTOMERS FOR THAT SPACE PADrt BUTTHEY ONLY HAVE ONE FOR NOW.THAT IS NASA.

Minotaur Rocket set to blast off from Cape Canaveral

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Updated: 4:55 PM EDT Aug 25, 2017

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

A converted ballistic missile is ready to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Friday night.

Only two Minotaur rockets have ever lifted off from the Cape, and those were in the 1990’s.

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The launch is expected to happen at 11:15 p.m. on Friday.

"It’s gonna be fast and it’s gonna be noisy. But our job here at space florida is to bring more fire and smoke and booms here to the Cape," Dale Ketcham, of Space Florida, said.

Minotaurs are converted Peacekeeper missiles, the kind that could have been armed with nuclear warheads aimed at Russia.

Minotaurs are smaller than most rockets launched from the Cape. They are about 76 feet tall, or about half the size of the others.

The rockets will carry a small satellite, weighing only about 250 pounds. The military will use the satellite to track space junk or other threats to its orbiting satellites, and it is doing it with little expense on thisthe mission.

It was all made possible by the state’s own space agency, Space Florida, which has refurbished the launch pad that will be used. The agency hopes that other missions will follow.

Space Florida only has one other customer so far: NASA, which will test the safety and escape systems on its new space ship.